POLICE ‘D’ Division Commander Ian Amsterdam has said that the division’s biggest problem remains the traffic situation and road deaths.

Addressing a breakfast the Division organised last Friday for its junior and senior ranks and partners of the Force, the Senior Superintendent said: “Our biggest challenge in this division now is to ensure that we get a grip on traffic and the fatalities. And in this division, it’s at an all-time alarming proportion, and that is not because we are not doing our work as a Force, but because we have the most drunk-driving cases in the division”.

He added that crime-fighting strategies in the division are second to none in the country, and that ‘D’ Division has been making the case over and over again that there is no other division which sees drunken driving cases like the ones presently under his span of control.

He said the division has been making cases against errant drivers, but the villages and villagers need to play their part in serving their communities by talking drivers out of the practice of consuming alcohol before taking control of, or while in control of, a vehicle.

Reflecting on the year, the commander said it was a good year, as he mentioned the improving police/community relations while stating that the division has been doing a good job in that respect thus far.

The division launched the C-PETS programme in July of this year in a partnership with the various community-based groups and organisations to roll out comprehensive programmes targeting the vulnerable.

The commander said the division is looking toward the New Year, and is prepared to serve the residents within “D” Division with an even higher level of professionalism and service. He charged ranks to continue working hard and to continue doing what they are doing, despite both positive and negative criticism being levelled at them.

He said officers must not take the shouting and hard-talking personally, as it is sometimes a needed impetus for them to complete particular tasks which, at the end of the day, would redound to all sharing in commendations being heaped on the Force.

“Let’s have fun and be merry; and you know that you have to work. This time I have asked for everyone to be given some time to do shopping and spend with their families, but we have to remember that when others are having fun, we have to watch their backs,” Commander Amsterdam explained.

(Leroy Smith)